camofish

Ok guys, Finally got some safe ice in the area and I've been out the last 2 weeks both mondays and tuesdays with a few fish on the ice to enjoy. 01/22/07 So here we go, 1st good outing of 2007, ice was thin 2 1/2" - 4" but stayed away from the 2 1/2", I fell safer on the 3"-4", yea I know it is only a 1/2" but can you blame me. Nothing big, but still put a fish on the ice. 01/23/07 Then the next day I went out with another buddy and we were on 5" of ice, much better, yes much better indeed. Start the day off with this 27" northern pike, C&R'd on a tipup with a 6# mono leader, and I ended up fighting this fish for about 5-10 mins it seemed cause I knew I only had a 6# mono leader, hehe, what fun. And here is a sweet bigg'n 10" gill that was quite fun on my UL jig pole with 4# mono. Great fun getting jiggy with the jig poles, notice the double team'd holes with the one flasher. 01/29/07 Then we come to this week. I went out both days with another buddy of mine and got him all hooked on this ice fishing stuff. Notice the double team holes again. If I put the holes close together, I can pickup and read both set of jigs down in the water. Now check out this big 'ol fat pumpkinseed. Some sweet colors. And there is always a chance that there will be a big school of fish to come thru and with the double holes, you end up with a double hook up every once in a while. And to bring this day to a close. I was picking up a fish about a foot off bottom what I notice when I drop the transducer thru the hole and watch my jigs go down. I start about a foot above the marked fish and give my jig a bounce or 2 and SLAM-O. The fight was on, this little pike was also caught on 4# mono and my UL, boy-o-boy what a fun fight that was. To be continued to the next post for 01/30/07. 8-)

Here is a 14"er on the last open water here before she locked up with ice. Caught with my UL - 28" icefishing rod with 4# mono.

got the big 'ol skunk today.

Thanks, I was looking to get into the perch and gills, but I started picking up schools of fish running about 5+ feet off bottom and I knew that I was after, after that. It was just a matter of getting the right bounce and pause to coax them to hit in the chocolatey waters. I was headed down that way again today but the river is a foot or so higher than yesterday and much darker in color. So, my buddy has a row boat and little motor and we're headed out on a local lake today to see what we can jigg up today. 8-) Looking for maybe a bass, pike, perch or crappie today on a tough lake. Just have to think ICE fishing, which drop the anchor and start vertical jigging. Ya never know. ;D

So I took off about 11am this morning while checking the radar of rain and noticed it was going to stop. So I called a fishing buddy that I knew had off and he was on his way and we were headed to the river for some perch fishing. So we get there and the water was up and turning colors but not quite chocolate but a close pea looking soupy color of water. We launch the canoe and I dropped anchor, transducer over side of canoe and using my UL 4# test ice fishing pole and start jigging. Finally hook up with a nice crappie, released and continued, then dropped it back down and bam-o another nice crappie, this time a photo op. and then another. Fish On! And still another, this was awesome. Then we moved to another spot and another spot, moved around and anchored in several places to fish, just like if we were on the ice. Jipping was hard to pick up all the time with the flasher due to the swinging of the canoe with the anchor and wind. Much harder for my buddy in the front of the canoe, next time 2 anchors might work best. Then I hooked into a monster crappie. See the little 26" UL ice fishing rod was working awesome. Then I was picking up a ton of crappie handing out at 12'-15' over 18'-20' FOW and counted off how far I was fishing so my buddy could get into the strike zone and then came back to back. Need I saw more, what a crappie day. All fish were C&R'd too. Fish On!

Totally the same here. My biggest this year was only 13 1/2". caught on my fav. red/white tubie 8-) Only hope to get one like that off the ice this coming season.

little tube jigs, paddle tail jigs, curly tail jigs, any little jig for that matter. 8-) Different size jigheads for depth control.

That is an awesome flathead, was that caught on a live or chunk gill?

Here is the one that I got this year on an X-rap - BLue. And one of my PB off the ice. 24 - 1/4" on a tipup, pulled him in my hand. He made some killer runs before I could get him up thru a 9" hole. 8-) I can't wait to get back out there. Still 4-6 weeks before before we can get on the ice. : Fish On!

Welcome, welcome Nathan! and WTG on the lunker for the year for ya. 8-)

Very cool, what an awesome way to bring in the month of November. 8-) And Brown knows. ;D You guys have some great NE fishing going on up there, WTG. 8-) LOL, I was thinking the same thing when I saw the baitcaster. ;D Well done.

Camo - I like to wear alot of camo clothing, I was in the service and did alot of hunting, I have over a dozen camo outfits and all my warmer clothing is camo. Fish - Need I say more. ;D It's what I love to do the most. I Fish, therefore I am. 8-) So, camofish fits. 8-)

What was would be my 2nd guess too. Don't know how to spell it either. ;D

Looks like some kind of brim :-/ but it's huge. 8-) WTG

thanks w2slow. and everyone else. I'm thinking ov using in my outboard till the end of the season to help de-gum. And I'm going to run it thru my jiffy 3 HP ice auger.

you always run seaform in your outboard thru the season?

Sounds like a heck of a deal, wtg, and start off with fish in the boat is the best trip. 8-) Let us know how it goes. Tight Lines! Fish On!

wow, great info. thanks for the excellent wirte up. I normally winterize my tracker in mid-Nov. and I don't fog my engine last year. but want to this year. Thanks again, way2slow

I have a 1988 TX-17 bass tracker w/ 75 HP Merc O/B that I got last spring and I love it. Yes, it is alittle scary in bad weather, 3-4 foot waves but she holds her own. With the bigger, heavier motor on her she screams right along, but it puts her rear-end in the water a little lower, plus add the person in the back, well ya know, have to watch the water intake. Make sure that you always have a good and operational bilage pump.

I too have the All-charger and Stay-n-Charge. I only have the All-charger hooked up right now in the boat and in the last 3 trips, I've had nothing but good things to say about the system. With the warmer weather coming, I plan on hooking up the charger in the truck so that I can use both of the chargers together. IF you have any questions just call them, they have excellent tech services and can answer any questions and also help you to installing it, but the system goes in, in less than an hour. http://www.stayncharge.com/ Great product.

Plus, what kind of run time on the water is the norm for ya. The launch is only 10-15 mins from my house, that is why I also have the All-charger that is installed inside the boat, and will transfere a charge from my starter battery when full while running the big motor to my trolling batteries. And so you have to run your truck for an extra 5-10 mins. which if you are in line to launch, leave your truck running and then you pull her out of the water. But, I do also travel an hour or so to some places too. But, if you have the time to extension cord to your hand charger and boat, go for it. We all start somewhere, right.

Sounds to me like you need the All-Charger or Stay-N-Charge for this company. http://www.stayncharge.com/ And if you give them a call they can let ya know what model you'll need. If you only have 1 trolling and 1 starter battery, you should be able to get away with the charger that will charge your batteries as your driving down the road to your favorite launch. I got both of there products and only have the boat All-Charger installed right now and have had the boat out 3 times last week and she runs great. The test will be when I take her out again and my batteries will charge them selfs as you run your big motor. It is a great product, you should look into it, I too hated having to move the boat just to charge up the batteries. I have 2 trolling and 1 starter battery in the boat and all last year I couldn't even get a heavy usage 18 hour day out of my trolling batteries, I never have to worry again. 8-)

yep, screw the screw back in after fill the lower unit up is the messy part. Just have to quick as possable and remember not to cross thread. bigger problems then.

I have a 17' alum. grumman and use a trolling motor, but I normally have 1 or 2 in the canoe. I would get a shorter one, like 12'-15' for one fisherman. If your on a lake or pond it would be better to have on that has a nice kill down the underside.

I would also take a good look at the outboard's lower unit, to make sure that there isn't any oil leeks, ask as to then the air pump was replaced and to the engines maintaince and upkeep. I looked at a few different boats that had lower unit problems with oil leeks. I even ended up getting an old lemon the 1st time :'( every one has to learn some way. And for me it was the hard way. but inturn the boat I got now also is an older one but was very well kept up, that has every thing to do with it. Good luck 8-) soon to be on the water.